Teacher quality is the most important school-related factor influencing student achievement. Pre-service teacher training and education must be improved to enhance the quality of teaching in Australian schools and lift student attainment (Council of Australian Governments, 2008; Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, 2008). Educational Psychology: First Australian Edition, a new text published by Wiley, aims to address this challenge by providing Australian pre-service teachers with a deep understanding of how learning occurs and how teachers can foster learning. The text emphasises that teachers should use educational psychology research and theory to think critically about classroom problems and issues. The text's focus on critical thinking and reflective practice is part of an emerging trend in teacher education programs. According to Dinham (2012), there is growing recognition that teachers need to become clinical, evidence-based practitioners and to ‘diagnose’ individual student learning needs. Educational Psychology: First Australian Edition provides a clear picture of what data-driven, evidence-based teaching looks like in practice and why it is important.
The text is organised into five main parts: teaching, development, learning, motivation, and assessment. It covers topics such as the process of teaching, cognitive development, social constructivist approaches to learning, the nature of student motivation, and the principles of assessment. Given that teachers are expected to work with ever-changing information and communication technologies to facilitate learning, it might be useful to devote a chapter of the text to this issue in future editions.
The text is written in an engaging style and is well supported by tables and figures. It maintains a strong focus on current Australian educational norms and practices, and covers recent changes to the Australian educational environment, such as the drafting of national teaching standards, the drafting of a national curriculum, and the publication of national data on student literacy and numeracy. One of the main strengths of the text is that it frequently highlights the importance of employing strategies to cater for the increasingly diverse population of students attending Australian schools; this issue is embedded within the content of each chapter. The text also promotes the use of reflective thinking skills by encouraging the reader to challenge their assumptions about teaching and learning, to apply what they have learned to typical classroom scenarios, and to analyse lesson plans. This helps to reinforce the key message of the text, which is that reflective thinking is essential for teachers to develop a clear understanding of what constitutes effective teaching.
The text will be a valuable resource for pre-service Australian teachers who want to better understand the process of teaching and learning and become reflective practitioners. The text will also provide educational and developmental psychologists with a comprehensive review of current and classic theories and research findings in educational psychology.
